Jewish American Heritage Month

Posted By admin on November 1, 2020

Believe it or not, the Jewish Chronicle hasnt always looked increasingly like a racist, anti-Palestinian, anti-Muslim rag. Under the ownership of Asher Myers and Israel Davis between 1878 and 1906, in fact, the paper even had an anti-Zionist period. This was not as unusual as some readers may think. In that era, and for decades after, Zionism was a very small minority trend in European Jewish communities.

In fact there is a good case to be made that political Zionisms origins are more Christian than Jewish. It was only once British planners hit upon the notion of Zionisms utility to imperialism in Western Asia that the movements true rise began, and it was under the tutelage of the British Empire that many of the leaders of the Zionist movement in Palestine got their start.

Indeed, many of the people behind the Zionist militias began their training in the British Army during World War One, or in Britains Special Night Squads, which were basically death squads formed to repress the 1936 Palestinian insurgency against the British Mandate occupation and Zionist colonialism. A Jewish Infantry Brigade was part of the British Army during World War Two, recruited from Jews who had already migrated to Palestine. Many went on to serve in the nascent Israel Defence Forces.

Today, the largest pro-Israel group by membership in America seems to be John Hagees Christians United For Israel (CUFI). The group currently claims to have more than six million members. While that figure may be questionable (only a few years ago it claimed to have two million) theres no doubt that CUFI has a large base among a certain kind of extremist Evangelical Christians.

READ: BDS victory as US university strikes down pro-Israel resolution

Following the mass expulsion of the Palestinian people in 1948 described by some historians as ethnic cleansing and the foundation of Israel as an exclusively Jewish state, the Zionist movement managed to convince public opinion in the West that it, and only it, represents the Jews or the Jewish community. The reality is far more complicated. Many Jews today and in growing numbers reject Israels claim to represent them, and also reject the states systemic violence and racism against the indigenous people of Palestine.

In this regard, then, we are beginning to come full circle. David Cesaranis history of the Jewish Chronicle details how, under Myers and Davis, the paper fervently opposed the founding father of political Zionism, Theodor Herzl. The paper emerged as one of Herzls most bitter opponents, Cesarani writes, and fought Herzlian Zionism every step of the way.

The Jewish Chronicles editorial line echoed the chief Jewish ideological opponents of Zionism, who at the time were very much in the majority within Britains Jewish communities.

When Herzl convened a congress to found the World Zionist Organisation in 1897, the paper was aghast and endorsed the successful protest of a group of German Reform rabbis who prevented the congress from being held in their country. It was forced to meet in Basel, Switzerland instead.

Summarising the papers editorial line, Cesarani writes: The very notion of an International Congress was an insult to the patriotism of Jews of various nationalities, and anti-Semites have not been slow to avail themselves of the groundless insinuations that Jews are now confessedly unpatriotic and half-hearted as citizens of the states in which they live.

READ: The world is endorsing Palestines disappearance in the name of peace

In other words, Zionism was not only a danger to Palestinians, but also to Jews in their native countries around the world. Subsequent events have demonstrated this to be the case.

However, under new owners, the Jewish Chronicle later turned towards Zionism. Throughout the War on Terror era, it has made a noticeable shift towards what is called the Islamophobic right.

The newspapers current editor is Stephen Pollard, who took on the role in 2008. From the very beginning of the Daily Express columnists leadership, the newspaper was hostile to the Labour Party, even the tepid New Labour policies of Gordon Brown. It also hired openly anti-Muslim columnists like Melanie Philips. And it was devoted fanatically to Israel.

On his (now deleted) blog only two years before being hired by the Chronicle, Pollard had shown just how far to the right he was, posting a manifesto written to preserve Western civilisation from the threat of Islamists. In it, he insisted that the Left, in any recognisable form, is now the enemy.

READ: Israel is committing war crimes in Hebron, researcher says

Such right-wing fanaticism unsurprisingly led the paper into outright war against Labour under the leadership of Jeremy Corbyn. To sustain the lie that the party under Corbyn had become a cesspit of anti-Semitism, the paper went to increasingly desperate lengths to make what many reasonable people saw as defamatory statements and smears, not just about the then Labour leader but also the wider party membership and, indeed, the whole British left.

Lately, the Jewish Chronicle has been paying the price for this campaign. A series of libel victories and IPSO rulings have been won by Labour (and more recently Green) Party activists.

Palestinians and Muslims have been subjected to the same treatment. Interpal, a charity which focuses on helping needy Palestinians, was libelled by the paper as terrorist funders and a massive 50,000 in damages was paid to the trustees last year. The Jewish Chronicle also published an apology.

Reports have increased in recent years about the newspapers growing financial difficulties and declining readership. Closure was most recently averted after a buyout by a consortium that included BBC journalist John Ware. How much longer, then, can the Jewish Chronicle sustain its costly campaign against the people of occupied Palestine and their supporters?

The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Monitor.

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The Jewish Chronicle's war of words against Palestinians and their supporters - Middle East Monitor

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Posted By admin on November 1, 2020

There are leading left-wing political activists who claim that Israel is built on the idea that Jews are supreme to everyone else, implying that any form of Zionism, including progressive Zionism, is inherently sympathetic to white supremacy. But when a Jewish undergraduate is hounded off a student council (Impeach her Zionist ass, according to the social media campaign against her) she may understandably wonder whether the hoary equivalence of Zionism and racism hasnt become another pretext to target Jews.

The list goes on. In the months after the Pittsburgh massacre, I sometimes heard the argument that Jews had far more to fear from the anti-Semitism of the Charlottesville right which, after all, had led to the shedding of human blood in Pittsburgh and later at a synagogue in Poway, Calif. than from the anti-Semitic microaggressions from other quarters. Mainstream media reports added to the perception that the rise in hate crimes, including crimes against Jews, was overwhelmingly a function of right-wing hate.

But then a tsunami of anti-Semitic assaults came crashing down on the Orthodox communities in New York, largely perpetrated by young men of color, according to The Times. And then five people were murdered in two separate terrorist attacks in Jersey City and Monsey, N.Y. In neither of these fatal attacks against Jews were white supremacists involved.

All of this should serve as stark reminders that when it comes to anti-Semitism, neither left nor right nor Black nor white has any kind of monopoly. No less important, no side is free of political leanings that are, if not anti-Semitic, then perilously close to it. The Trumpian rights obsession with border walls, protective tariffs and drastic cuts to legal immigration is a vehicle for a toxic brand of American nationalism that over time cannot bode well for American Jews.

But the lefts fetish with pyramids of privilege and intersections of oppression is just as toxic, if not more, considering the broad success of American Jews in the ladders of educational, economic and cultural attainment. Whenever the success or merit of a minority group turns into a presumption of social guilt whether it was the Asian community in Idi Amins Uganda, the Chinese in Suhartos Indonesia, or Jews in Weimar Germany the consequences tend to be catastrophic.

Two years ago, a once-unthinkable attack became an all-too-thinkable possibility for every synagogue in America. In itself, Pittsburgh should serve as a permanent reminder of how easily the politics of demonizing immigrants can lead to killing Jews.

But the broader lesson is that any ideology that borders on anti-Semitism can easily descend toward it. And anyone who isnt calling out his own side as much as the other speeds that descent.

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Anti-Semitism and What Feeds It - The New York Times

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Posted By admin on November 1, 2020

THE assassination of Yitzhak Rabin, now a quarter of a century ago, had a profound impact on Jews and non-Jews all over the world. The shock and horror of the news, when it broke, made it one of those moments forever etched in our individual and collective psyches, permanently engraved on our historical memories.

I remember the day vividly. In the early hours of a Sunday morning, the phone rang, waking up the house. It was an Australian journalist seeking a comment from my father about the assassination of the prime minister in Israel by a Jewish Israeli.

I was an idealistic 15-year-old religious Zionist, a passionate member of Bnei Akiva, a religious Zionist youth movement and a student at Leibler Yavneh College, a religious Zionist school. To be told that the sitting Israeli prime minister had been assassinated, not by terrorists, but by a fellow religious Zionist Jew, brought my world crashing down.

I couldnt absorb how this man, this murderer, had contrived and fully embraced a religious justification for such extreme and fanatically evil action. Yigal Amir was one of us and had been brought up in a tradition that was not dissimilar to mine.

The perspective I held at the time regarding the Oslo Accords was irrelevant. I had watched Yitzhak Rabin shake hands with Yasser Arafat, an arch terrorist, with some trepidation. But I shared Israels excitement about the prospect of a new peace for the region and I admired Yitzhak Rabins courage and commitment to delivering a better future for both Israelis and Palestinians.

For myself, like many people in Israel and Australia, I took a certain level of political stability for granted. Sure we fought, we disagreed, we argued. We were Jewish, after all. But there was a limit. Yesh gvul, as they say in Israel. Political assassinations and murder, that was over the limit and beyond the pale. That kind of thing happened in other communities, to other peoples and other nations. After 2000 years of unrelenting persecution, the Jewish people had learnt that no matter what, human life was sacred. Inviolable. Yet here we were. Like any tin-pot regime where political differences are settled not with argument and debate, but with violence.

In simple terms, religious Zionism can be defined as a form of Zionism that believes that Jewish autonomy in the land of Israel has religious, not just political significance. Religious Zionists believe in the Torah, in the eternal and sacred values of the Jewish people but also in the values of the modern world. Science and literature, technology and culture. My familys religious Zionism involved a passionate commitment to our religious values, our Zionist values and our participation in the broader culture simultaneously. None of it was contradictory. It all meshed together.

The ideology and the movement that I had thought I was a part of was one built on integration. Not weak and effete compromises, but on a sturdy and confident form of integration of complementary values. An approach that saw commitment to the Torah and commitment to Zionism as complementary and not contradictory. An approach that saw adherence to ancient values and the embrace of modern institutions not as discord but as harmony. Our heroes were Rav Kook and Rav Soloveitchik, titans of Torah who simultaneously embraced the secular Zionist movement and the teachings of modernity.

Yet over in Israel a very different religious Zionism had been fomenting within the broader religious Zionist camp. One that was not built on compromise and harmony, but rather, on something far more radical and extreme. We know that while Yigal Amir pulled the trigger that ultimately killed the prime minister, this heinous act was not committed in a vacuum. Some rabbis could not resist the temptation of mixing religion and politics and, in doing so, created an atmosphere of hatred and incitement. Few of these leaders called directly for an assassination, but there were many, whose rhetoric could be said to have created an atmosphere that allowed or even prompted Yigal Amir to pull the trigger. Signs dotted the country denouncing Rabin as a traitor. Others depicted him dressed in an SS uniform. Biblical laws and Talmudic interpretations were invoked that made the case not only for the removal of the prime minister, but for his murder.

The religious Zionist rabbis and the leaders who incited violence were certainly in the minority within the religious Zionist camp. There were others, both religious and lay leaders, who were vehemently against incitement and murder. Yet their views by and large remained unknown to the wider public. Because at that time they committed a cardinal sin. They remained silent.

Today, on the other side of the political spectrum and particularly on college campuses and in liberal circles, we see college professors and student groups shutting down free speech and intimidating Jewish students with what can only be described as antisemitism operating under the guise of anti-Zionism. Too many professors, teachers and leaders within these communities are unwilling or unable to speak out and call out, in Natan Sharanskys words, the 3 Ds that distinguish legitimate criticism of Israel from antisemitism Delegitimisation, Demonisation and the application of Double standards towards Israel. The irony of, and the relatively muted reaction by the mainstream Jewish communal leadership following, the recent decision by Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to withdraw from an event commemorating the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin, is a serious cause for concern. Clearly, we as a global Jewish community, have not heeded the lessons that should have been learned following Rabins assassination.

We often talk of a silent majority. There is an urban myth in political circles that while the extremes of both the right and the left are the most vocal, there is a moderate centre that dwarfs both of these extremes. Most people, goes this belief, whether Australian or Israeli, American or Palestinian, are not devotees of any particular ideological camp. They are neither staunch capitalists nor devout socialists. They are not extreme nationalists or radical leftists. Most people everywhere want more or less the same thing. Peace and stability, the ability to earn a decent and respectable living, a better life for their children and grandchildren and in the case of the Jewish people, to have self-determination to be a free people in our own country. Basic human requirements. Yet the reason that the silent majority has the status of an urban myth is precisely because it is silent. It doesnt speak up. It allows the fiery rhetoric of extremism to take up all the space in the discourse.

With the idealism of my 15-year-old self and the resolve of my 40-year-old self, my message is that it is incumbent on all of us the silent majority to abandon our silence; to actively, determinedly call out extremism in any form from any source.

Whether from the left or the right, whether its antisemitism, racism, Islamophobia or homophobia.

Whether were sitting around the Shabbat table, the university quadrangle or the yeshivah study hall. We must challenge extremism that describes a political leader with a differing view as a traitor or separates the world into those for us and those against us. As Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks says: When you mix religion and politics, you get terrible politics and even worse religion.

This disease is not unique to the right or the left. Sadly, today it permeates both world views.

Engagement outside of our comfort zones, and respectful, nuanced debate is the only path to a better place for our troubled world.

Recently the freshman Knesset Member Tehila Friedman of the Blue and White party and proud religious Zionist, made a stunning maiden speech to the Knesset that went viral in both Israel and the Diaspora. Directly attacking this winner-takes-all culture, she departed from the convention of using her first address as an acceptance speech, and instead laid out a strong and compelling case for a new and assertive centrism. My centre is a pre-existing centre, a fervent centre, that is unwilling to compromise on its centrism, on its responsibility for all the residents of the country.

It is this kind of assertive centrism that must become the most vocal voice in our communities, and hence in our politics. A belief that is proud of compromise and finding a middle path. It is this kind of assertive centrism that led the Zionist Federation of Australia to condemn the merger of the Jewish Home party with the Kahanist Otzma party prior to the last Israeli election. It is this same assertive centrism that guides leaders like Rabbi David Stav to use compassion and sensitivity as a guide in deciding issues of Jewish law.

Extremism is seductive. Yet it only ever leads to destruction and chaos. Twenty-five years after the tragedy of Yitzhak Rabins assassination, the silent majority must not be silent.

Jeremy Leibler is president of the ZionistFederation of Australia.

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Reflections on the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin - Australian Jewish News

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Posted By admin on November 1, 2020

In a meeting with Dr. Velayati, Hujjat al-Islam al-Kaabi emphasized the strong relationship between al-Nujaba and the Palestinian Islamic Resistance groups and stressed that the Zionist regime will mark its end if it enters any war.

According to the Communication and Media Affairs Centre of al-Nujaba in Iran, Hujjat al-Islam Akram al-Kaabi, the secretary-general of al-Nujaba, met with Dr. Ali-Akbar Velayati, the supreme adviser to the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Khamenei in international affairs on Tuesday, October 27, 2020, in Tehran.

In his meeting with Dr. Velayati, Hujjat al-Islam al-Kaabi pointed to the pressure of the election campaign of the President of the United States, Donald Trump, on regional governments regarding compromise with the Zionist regime and said, This anti-Islamic and humiliating wave has even reached Iraq to such an extent that some Daesh and mercenary politicians have taken up the issue of normalizing Baghdad-Tel Aviv relations and created a virtual embassy for Israel.

The Iraqi Islamic Resistance and al-Nujaba will stand against the policy of normalizing relations with the Zionist regime.

In this regard, the secretary-general of al-Nujaba noted, The Iraqi Islamic Resistance and al-Nujaba will stand against the policy of normalizing relations with the Zionist regime. We have strong ties with Palestinian groups and al-Quds (Jerusalem) is the key to our resistance. Therefore, we will not withhold any help or support from the Palestinians.

Explaining the movement of Israeli delegations to Iraq undercover as citizens of the United States, he stated, It is a clear threat to Iraq, Iran, the region and Muslims that some security elements of the Zionist regime arrive at to Baghdad International Airport with Western passports, travel freely in the country and meet with personalities.

Hujjat al-Islam al-Kaabi emphasized the weakness and declining nature of the Zionist regime and added, We believe that if Israel enters any war, it will end with a strategic mistake and the Islamic Resistance groups of Palestine, Lebanon, Iraq, and Iran will reach al-Quds, and then, just as the Supreme Leader of the Islam Revolution has promised, we will pray in al-Quds.

The commander-in-chief of the Iraqi Islamic Resistance then emphasized the destructive role of the Saudi and Emirati regimes in the region and Iraq, noting, The Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, Muhammad ibn Salman, is waging war in Yemen, creating sedition in Lebanon, and supporting Daesh and other terrorist groups in Iraq and Syria. The case of Iraq has also been handed over to Muhammad ibn Zayed, the Crown Prince of the United Arab Emirates, by the President of the United States, who has a mission to use the intelligence services to foment divisions and instability in Iraq.

We see the hand of the United States and Israel behind the evil acts of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

He also warned, We see the hand of the United States and Israel behind the evil acts of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates and the flame of all these riots and seditions will eventually fall on the lives of their troops.

In conclusion, Hujjat al-Islam al-Kaabi described the blood of the martyrs as a bright beacon of the path of struggle and said, Due to the blessings to the blood of martyrs like Haj Qasem Soleymani, the Islamic Resistance Front has united and expanded. Now, the Islamic Resistance is not limited to one country, and its seeds have grown in Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Pakistan, and so on.

FA/PR

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Posted By admin on November 1, 2020

The fouth session of indirect negotiations to demarcate the maritime borders between Lebanon and the Israeli enemy will be held on November 11 after the third one convened Thursday (October29) at 10:00 am in Ras al-Naqoura.

The Lebanese delegation left on board a military helicopter back to Yarzeh, where the delegations chief, Brigadier General Bassam Yassin, is expected to head to Baabda Palace to deliver the confidential minutes of these negotiations.

In this connection, it is to note that the Israeli enemy warplanes circled over the area of Naqoura during todays session, violating the southern Lebanese airspace.

Meanwhile, the Lebanese coast extending from al-Bayada to Ras al-Naqoura witnessed intensive army patrols, while the UNIFIL personnel conducted sea patrols off Ras al-Naqoura.

Source: Al-Manar English Website and NNA

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Next Round of Indirect Negotiations to Demarcate Maritime Border with Zionist Enemy to Be Held on November 11 - Al-Manar TV

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Posted By admin on November 1, 2020

In a statement issued following the recent insult to the Prophet of Islam in France,Ali AkbarVelayati said, "Following the global condemnation, we expected them to preventpublishing a magazine in Francethat have insulted the Prophet of Islam. However, the application of double standards and behaviors caused this polytheistic and anti-religious thinking to penetrate into the educational system of this country."

"Extremism and desecration of the Prophet (PBUH) are two sides of the same coin used by international Zionism and global arrogance against pure Islam," he added.

"False claimants of human rights, under the pretext of freedom of expression, commit the most insulting acts, crimes and evils, and in the face of the slightest opposition and criticism, they impose the most severe punishments and encounters, while they call themselves claimants of freedom of expression and human rights," Velayati noted.

He highlighted, "The great and unforgivable sin of the supporters of these actions, who, in the guise of freedom of expression and modernity, have endorsed and encouraged the insulters, will surely causeresponse from Muslims, freedom-loversand justice-seekers in the world," adding, "It will lead to thegrowing unity and solidarity of the Muslims, the awakening of the individuals of the Islamic societies, and the universal condemnation of these sinister movements."

"Condemning the heinous crime and insult, theWorld Forum for Proximity of Islamic Schools of Thoughtcalls on all Muslims to thwart these anti-Islamic conspiracieswhile maintaining their vigilance and awareness," he added.

The statement came asFrench President Emmanuel Macron said his country will not give up cartoons insulting the prophets.

The desecration of Muslim religious sanctities is not rare in France.

In September, French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo republished the same cartoons about the Great Prophet and Islam that prompted a deadly attack on the magazine in 2015.

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Posted By admin on November 1, 2020

A group of Sudanese protesters gathered on Tuesday off the headquarters of the ministerial premiership in rejection of normalizing ties with the Zionist enemy, confirming Sudans historical support to the occupied Al-Quds (Jerusalem) and the entire occupied territories in Palestine.

The protesters stressed that the economic development by reinforcing the productive sectors, not subjecting to the will of the imperial powers.

The Sudanese political commander, Othman Al-Kabashi, announced forming a wide national front against the normalization of ties with Israel, stressing that the people of Sudan may never abandon its principles despite all the bribes.

Al-Kabashi pointed out that some of the revolutionaries are heavily biased towards the West, adding that they have utilized the popular protests for their political purposes.

We wonder how some movements, which fought Omar Bashirs government under the slogan of rejecting oppression, are now involved in supporting the most racist states throughout the human history, Al-Kabashi said.

Al-Kabashi also apologized to the Palestinians, especially the worshipers at Al-Aqsa Mosque, noting that the normalization government in Sudan will classify Hezbollah as a terrorist group.

In response to the Zionist premier, Benjamin Netanyahu, who boasted overthrowing the three Arab Nos announced in Sudan in 1967 (no negotiations, no recognition, no peace with Israel), Al-Kabashi stressed that Khartoum will remain the capital of the three Nos against the Zionist entity.

Source: Al-Manar English Website

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Posted By admin on November 1, 2020

The Equality and Human Rights Commission has found that the Labour Party broke equality law in its handling of anti-Semitism.

Here is a timeline of key events regarding tension surrounding claims of anti-Semitism in Labour during the partys recent history:

September 2015: Jeremy Corbyn is elected as Labour Party leader.

April 2016: Labour MP Naz Shah apologises in the Commons for Facebook posts which appeared to suggest Israelis should move to live in the US.

June 2016: Barrister and human rights campaigner Shami Chakrabarti delivers a report into anti-Semitism claims within Labour after being asked to do so by Mr Corbyn.

The study found that there was an occasionally toxic atmosphere in the party, but was dismissed as a whitewash by critics.

Ms Chakrabarti was appointed a Labour peer soon afterwards.

March 2018: Mr Corbyn is criticised over a message he sent in 2012 which appeared to be supportive of an artist who created an allegedly anti-Semitic mural.

Mr Corbyn said he had not looked at the image fully at the time and later became deeply disturbed by it.

The artist denied the image was anti-Semitic.

April 2018: Jennie Formby, a Corbyn ally, becomes Labours general secretary and says she will tighten the partys disciplinary proceedings. But critics insisted not enough was done.

May 2018: Labour former London mayor Ken Livingstone quits the party after a long-running row over his claims that Adolf Hitler had once backed Zionism, which had seen him suspended from the organisation.

July 2018: Labour launches disciplinary action against veteran MP Dame Margaret Hodge, after she reportedly called Mr Corbyn an anti-Semite and a racist.

Ms Hodge refused to apologise over the incident and the action was later dropped.

August 2018: Mr Corbyn draws criticism after a 2013 video came to light in which he claimed a group of British Zionists had no sense of English irony.

Mr Corbyn insisted he had used the term Zionist in an accurate political sense.

August 2018: Mr Corbyn is attacked for his attendance at a ceremony in Tunisia in 2014 which it was claimed honoured people behind the 1972 Munich massacre in which 11 members of the Israeli Olympic team were taken hostage by militant Palestinians and killed.

The Labour leader said he had attended as part of a wider peace searching event.

February 2019: Nine MPs quit Labour, with many of them citing anti-Semitism as a reason to go.

May 2019: The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) launches an inquiry into claims of anti-Semitism in the Labour Party.

April 2020: Sir Keir Starmer becomes Labour leader and says tackling anti-Semitism is a top priority.

Sir Keir sets up an independent complaints procedure and review of all outstanding cases.

June 2020: Rebecca Long Bailey is sacked as shadow education spokesperson after complaints that she had shared an article containing an anti-Semitic conspiracy theory.

July 2020: A Labour report into how anti-Semitism claims were handled by the party is leaked and causes controversy as it says hostility among some figures towards Mr Corbyn had impacted the investigation of allegations.

July 2020: Labour agrees to pay substantial damages to a number of people who talked to a Panorama special about anti-Semitism in the party.

October 2020: The EHRC finds that Labour was responsible for unlawful acts of harassment and discrimination after investigating allegations of anti-Semitism in the party.

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer says it is a day of shame for the party.

His predecessor as leader, Mr Corbyn, is suspended from the party over his response to the report.

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Key dates in the row over alleged anti-Semitism in Labour - shropshirestar.com

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Posted By admin on November 1, 2020

Some know what happened, others dont, and still others believe in unfounded conspiracy theories

Ask an American of a certain age their whereabouts on November 22, 1963, and they will give you an exact answer. The assassination of President John F. Kennedy left them with memories that refuse to fade with time. Ask an Israeli where they were on the night of November 4, 1995, when their countrys leader was killed, and they too will provide a precise response.

But what does the next generation, which has no direct memory of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabins assassination, know about the events surrounding the murder?

I know exactly why he was killed. It was due to his politics and the political differences he had with opponents over a peace plan

Esther, a religious woman of 19 educated in the ultra-Orthodox Bais Yaakov school system, told The Media Line, We really didnt learn this in our school. We know some Jewish history but not modern Israeli history. I know some crazy person killed him.

Lucia, a 24-year-old secular woman studying at a Jerusalem college, told The Media Line, I know exactly why he was killed. It was due to his politics and the political differences he had with opponents over a peace plan. She said that her education in elementary and high school included lessons about the murder.

Itamar, an 18-year-old religious youth, knew that the event happened 25 years ago after a large peace demonstration in Tel Aviv. His killer, Yigal Amir, was a radical, he was over-the-top and exaggerated.

His friend Eliyahu, also an 18-year-old religious youth, told The Media Line, It was due to political differences between the Left and the Right. Rabin was killed because of his political beliefs.

Both young men said they learned about the assassination in religious Zionist elementary and high schools.

Another young religious man named Eliyahu, 21, from the Jezreel Valley city of Afula, called Amir, the man who killed Rabin, a bit crazy and said the country fell into the assassination due to all the terror attacks during the period. His friend David, also 21 and from Afula, noted, Rabin was killed due to all the Israelis who were upset over the peace accords, because of Israeli behavior and political differences.

But was the assassin deranged or a radical?

Some in the religious Zionist community call him a nut or a stain but this is not the case. People in the community called for the murder and it happened. By stating that Amir is a sick man, they are wiping away their responsibility for his actions

Professor Vered Vinitzky-Seroussi, a professor of sociology at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, academic director of the Harry S. Truman Research Institute for the Advancement of Peace, and author of the 2009 book Yitzhak Rabins Assassination and the Dilemmas of Commemoration, posits that the country, particularly the religious Zionist community in which Amir was nurtured, needs to ask itself tougher questions.

She is not happy when the religious community educates its students that Amir is a bad apple.

Some in the religious Zionist community call him a nut or a stain but this is not the case. People in the community called for the murder and it happened. By stating that Amir is a sick man, they are wiping away their responsibility for his actions.

What is so infuriating and worrisome about the assassination is that it did not come in a vacuum. It was a result of something. It was not a total surprise.

We sociologists call this phenomenon difficult past. It is not more tragic than other events. Rather, it inherently makes us ashamed and embarrassed. We dont feel comfortable and dont want it around us, Vinitzky-Seroussi told The Media Line.

No less important, she intoned, is the question of what should take place when halacha [Jewish religious law] and state are in tension. What is going to happen in the future in similar circumstances?

But what do Israeli youth know about Yitzhak Rabin and his assassination?

The average student knows about Rabin the prime minister and his role as the head of the Israel army in 1967 [when, during the Six-Day War, when Israel swiftly took over the Sinai Peninsula, the West Bank and the Golan Heights], says Udi Katz, who is responsible for implementing Education Ministry programs at the Rabin Center in Tel Aviv. They know he was killed due to political differences and the Oslo peace program.

The Rabin Center, which was created by a 1997 law, sits on a verdant hillside in Tel Aviv. Before the coronavirus pandemic, Katz says, 20,000 students from schools around the country would visit the center annually to tour the museum and participate in workshops.

The majority of students come to us from secular schools, with 25 to 30% coming from Israels periphery not only geographic but also socio-economic, he told The Media Line.

We really want to increase by four times the number of religious students visiting the center. But the decision to visit the center is up to the principal and the head of civics teaching at each school, Katz lamented.

One of those taking advantage of Rabin Center programming is Meir Zaraya, chairman of kibbutz ulpans [language immersion and teaching programs] in Israel and head of the Etzion Tzuba program for new Israeli immigrants, located on Kibbutz Tzuba, outside of Jerusalem.

In every program, I take my students to Tel Aviv. Among the necessary stops are Rabin Square [formerly, Kings of Israel Square] where Rabin was assassinated, and the Rabin Center for a history lesson, not a political lesson, Zaraya told The Media Line.

To ensure that each student knows more, I hire guides in their mother tongue. It is important to me that they understand as well as possible. The students receive the information in their mother tongue so that they do not forget what happened, he says.

It is also vital to me that no politics enter the conversation. We have a session in the actual ulpan class on Rabin and his legacy. We discuss the dilemmas, the fact of the murder and ramifications after the murder. They will know what happened, he insists.

Zaraya knows that not all kibbutz ulpans have lessons on Rabin. It is on my agenda. They need to know about the country, Israeli history and Rabins assassination.

As with all such high-profile assassinations, Rabins murder has spawned its share of conspiracy theories. In fact, it did involve a small-scale conspiracy: Yigal Amirs brother Hagai Amir and their friend Dror Adani were both convicted of conspiring to murder the prime minister. But some young Israelis believe that the murder resulted from the secret machinations of large, sinister, powerful groups.

I dont believe anything about Yigal Amir. I dont believe he killed Rabin. This is what my father believes and I watched it on YouTube

Eden, a 22-year-old religious woman also educated in the ultra-Orthodox Bais Yaakov school system, told The Media Line, I dont believe anything about Yigal Amir. I dont believe he killed Rabin. This is what my father believes and I watched it on YouTube. Eden said that her schools didnt teach anything about this.

Neither Katz nor Vinitzky-Seroussi was surprised by this reaction.

There is a huge split between religious and secular school systems, not to mention the ultra-Orthodox and Arab systems. The country is divided. We dont meet ultra-Orthodox students at the Rabin Center, Katz told The Media Line.

We have a number of memorial days in Israel: Holocaust Remembrance Day and the Memorial Day for Fallen Soldiers among others. The enemy we recall on those days is outside of us, not a part of our country. With Rabins memorial day, the enemy is within, a part of our society. It is easier to find a conspiracy theory so that the assassination is not our collective responsibility.

If it is a conspiracy, we have nothing to talk about within our own group. This way, we have nothing to learn about ourselves, Katz laments.

Vinitzky-Seroussi notes that with all political assassinations, there is a certain percentage of the population obfuscating reality with conspiracy theories.

There is a theme with political assassinations that it did not happen as reported and thus they are saying it is a conspiracy. In this case, those saying this make it much easier to evade the tough issues and have no reason to make amends.

She concludes that conspiracy theories are, in part, about evading responsibility, and also reflect a deeper unease: Something like this should not be able to happen so easily, and thus, powerful, unseen forces must be operating behind the scenes.

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25 Years After: Israel's Next Generation Grapples With Prime Minister Rabin's Assassination - The Media Line

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Posted By admin on November 1, 2020

Steven Lowy, the chairman of the World Board of Trustees of Keren HayesodUnited Israel Appeal, has said that the vote passed in the 38th World Zionist Congress last week to extend the tenure of the organizations current world chairman for just six months is invalid and violates its constitution and bylaws.The decision as it stands means that world chairman Sam Grundwergs time in his position will end in April 2021, and a candidate from the Blue and White Party will subsequently be elected to replace him, in accordance with a political deal formed at the WZC last week.Lowy said that United Israel Appeal itself does not recognize the legitimacy of the vote in the WZC, and that it was the unilateral position of the entire World Board of Trustees of United Israel Appeal that the organization never agreed to this decision or will ever agree to this decision.Asked if the Board of Trustees would take legal action if the decision is not reversed, Lowy said simply, We would look at all avenues in dealing with what will happen.The World Zionist Organization insisted in response to Lowys comments that the vote had indeed been lawful and in accordance with Keren Hayesods statutes.Lowys comments presage a potentially severe struggle over the control and governance of the organization between its Diaspora leadership and the political and denominational elements that formulated the agreement as passed in the WZC.Keren HayesodUnited Israel Appeal is a major fundraising organization for the State of Israel in the Diaspora outside of the US, and distributes close to $200 million annually, overwhelmingly to projects inside Israel.It is governed by the World Board of Trustees and Board of Directors, but its chairman is supposed to be agreed upon by a joint committee of United Israel Appeal and WZO officials who have equal weight and representation on the panel, known as the Advice and Consent Committee.Once a candidate is agreed upon, the World Zionist Congress takes a vote to confirm them as world chairman.In August, ahead of last weeks congress, Lowy says that he communicated clearly to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Alternate Prime Minister Benny Gantz that the World Board of Trustees strongly believed that current chairman Sam Grundwerg should remain in his position until 2022 due to the COVID-19 crisis and the importance of organizational stability at a very challenging time for fundraising operations.Last Sunday, however, before the congress began on Tuesday, Netanyahu wrote a letter thanking Grundwerg for his work and stating that a new chairman would be appointed.Former Likud MK Avraham Neguise and Shifra Shahar, an NGO director, were proposed as candidates to the Advice and Consent Committee, but their candidacy was not accepted, Lowy and other Keren Hayesod officials said. [See correction below]On Wednesday, the Advice and Consent Committee convened again by video conference call, including outgoing WZO chairman Avraham Duvdevani, incoming WZO chairman Yaakov Hagoel, Yaron Shavit, a representative of the non-Orthodox Jewish denominations, and Masha Lublanski of the Labor Party, along with Lowy and two other World Board of Trustee members, to discuss again the matter of United Israel Appeal chairman.Lowy says that during that meeting it was agreed by all sides that Grundwerg would continue in his position until the end of April 2022.Come Thursday morning, however, Lowy says that agreement was unilaterally changed when the WZC voted to extend Grundwergs tenure by just six months, meaning that his position as chairman would end after this period.This vote was part of the political deal agreed upon by the Center-Left, liberal bloc of the WZC, including Blue and White, Yesh Atid and the Reform and Masorti movements with the right-wing, religious-Zionist and ultra-Orthodox bloc.The agreement we reached was ignored and what was voted on was nowhere near what was agreed, Lowy told The Jerusalem Post on Wednesday, adding that a sitting chairman has never been removed in this manner.Sam is doing a brilliant job under very difficult decisions, the trustees are completely satisfied, we want him to continue and have no intention to change chairman at this time, Lowy said.Lowy said that the governing statute of United Israel Appeal clearly stipulates that the candidate to be voted on by the WZC must be agreed by the Advice and Consent Committee and that this statute was contravened in the decision to extend Grundwergs tenure for only six months.The independence of Keren Hayesod is what is at hand here... We care about efficiency, we care about where the money is going, and about independent leadership, these principles are sacrosanct, said Lowy.Who in the Diaspora is going to give money to an organization which is entirely controlled by the Israeli political system and in a situation when they do not have confidence in the governance and leadership of that organization? he said. I completely respect the position of the prime minister and the political system of the WZO, and respect the historical processes that have taken place, but I represent the Diaspora community and we ask for mutual respect for those who have toiled for decades raising money for Israel, without whom not one dollar would be raised.The WZO said in response The procedures of the election of the chairman of Keren Hayesod were conducted legally, in accordance with the statutes of Keren Hayesod and the constitution of the World Zionist organization, according to which the final decision on this matter is given exclusively to the World Zionist Organization and was taken by a vote of hundreds of delegates from around the world. This vote ends the complex process of several stages in which different options were considered which were ultimately brought to the decision of the congressA source in the WZO with knowledge of the events said in response that it was important for the United Israel Appeal leadership to acknowledge that the WZO itself is a major stakeholder in the organization and that the political process was legitimate.The source insisted that there was no reason for the United Israel Appeal leadership to be upset with the outcome of the agreement, since the candidacy for the new chairman would be nominated in full consultation with the relevant governing bodies of the organization.Politics is a part of the mechanism of electing heads of Jewish organizations all over the world, and the political mechanisms within the Zionist movement are not always associated with those with the biggest pockets, so I dont accept this perspective of looking down on the political process, said the source.Editor's Note:An earlier version of this article claimed that two candidates for the job of chairman of Keren Hayesod - AvrahamNeguiseand Shifra Shahar - were rejected and deemed inappropriate. This was inaccurate. While the committee did not select these two candidates for the job, we apologize for claiming that they were rejected and inappropriate.

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Decision replacing United Israel Appeal chair invalid, wont be respected - The Jerusalem Post

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